The Sword of Vulcan: Part 7

Three weeks had passed since the monstrosity, Nex Necis, had fallen to Earth and landed right in the middle of a raging armed conflict. Since that time, the creature had not stopped killing. Wherever a battle was being fought, Nex would inevitably find a way onto the battlefield. It didn’t matter who was fighting who, or what their reasons were, flaming sword in hand, Nex cut down everyone in his path.

Some clever reporter had looked up the Latin translation of Nex Necis and quickly made it a well-known fact that Nex Necis translated to ‘violent death.’ Afterwards he became known simply as Nex, or as ‘death’ itself.

Nex waged a continuous and utterly merciless rampage across the globe and as of yet no one knew why he did this or where he had come from. Oddly enough, Nex never attacked civilians or buildings. He only went after combatants or military equipment and compounds. It seemed that he mission was to end war by killings all warriors; he was forcing people to be peaceful.

Some labeled Nex as a cold-blooded killer intent on destruction. They condemned his methods and feared his power. So far nothing had hurt him and nothing could stop him. More and more people were calling for a nuclear strike to bring him down.
Others supported him, claiming that although his methods were harsh, peace was worth any cost. They cheered him as an unlikely saviour.

Meanwhile, Paul the construction worker had been listed as missing and hadn’t been seen for three weeks. Few of his friends would recognize him now as Vulcan’s terrible killing machine. However a small part of Paul still existed, lying dormant within Nex’s mind.

Paul drifted in and out of consciousness, alternately appalled and then unconcerned by the carnage being wrecked all around him. He felt largely numb and seemed incapable of reigning in the bloodlust that suffused his new body. Occasionally the image of a screaming terrified victim would surface in his thoughts and he would feel shame and anger at what Vulcan had made him into.

Days and nights meshed and he lost all track of time. Slowly, oh so very slowly, his anger grew from within. He wanted to escape from this drugged existence and put an end to Nex Necis forever. Paul had wanted to help people, not to kill without mercy. Vulcan was using him and he wanted to fight back.

So far no one else had managed to even so much as halt the monster’s path, let alone stop him. Over the passage of these weeks, Paul had sluggishly come to the conclusion that the only way to stop the beast was to attack it from within.

Paul knew that he was the world’s only hope and that now was the time to end this. He would challenge Vulcan; a mere man against a vicious, insane god of old. It would be a battle between creator and created.

And no matter what, Paul was prepared to do whatever it took to end Nex Necis and to banish him for this earth.